Iglesia ni Cristo's Worldwide Walk breaks 2 Guinness world records

MANILA, Philippines -- Two Guinness World Records have been broken by the Worldwide Walk of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) over the weekend in Manila.

On Sunday, an official of the Guinness World Record has announced that the INC event also set a new record for the largest charity walk in 24 hours (multiple venue).

"Thirteen time zones, 54 countries, 24 hours....Iglesia Ni Cristo reached a number and that number is 519, 521 participants," said Kirsty Bennett, Guinness World Records adjudicator, Sunday afternoon at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, where the announcement was made.

"On behalf of Guinness I'd like to award Iglesia Ni Cristo for the largest charity walk in 24 hours multiple venue. Congratulations you are officially amazing again ," she added.

The previous record was set by Canada involving 231,635 participants who walked for a minimum of 1 kilometer (.62 miles) at 1,011 different locations around Canada on October 2, 2007.

Saturday's event also surpassed the record for the largest charity walk in a single venue with 175,000 participants beating the record set in Singapore in May 2000 with more than 77,000 individuals.

The walk for a cause of INC was staged in 135 sites across the globe in the USA, in Europe, in Australia/New Zealand and in Asia including the Philippines.

The event in Metro Manila started at the grounds of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) along Roxas Boulevard up to Rizal Park.

Earlier, Brother Edwil Zabala, minister of the gospel said that this was not the first time that the INC broke a Guinness record.

In July 2012. the Lingap sa Mamamayan activity of INC broke three Guinness world records that of the largest dental health check, the biggest number of blood pressure (BP) readings, and the most numerous blood glucose level (BGL) tests, conducted in eight hours.

Aside from beating Guinness records, Zabala said the event aims to raise funds to help typhoon Yolanda victims in Eastern Visayas.

"The amount that will be raised through this activity (walk for a cause) will be allocated by the Church through the FYM Foundation as additional assistance to our countrymen, especially our brethren, who were devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda,” he said.